Survey: Shoppers want improved mobile grocery shopping

By Katherine Boccaccio

New York -- Aldata, part of Symphony EYC, announced Monday its second U.S. holiday shopping survey revealed that U.S. shoppers want to use their mobile phones to make shopping easier, more personalized, and to have more control over inventory, but that purchasing groceries with a mobile is still in its infancy.

Conducted by Vision Critical on behalf of Symphony EYC, the survey found that 54% of shoppers said that no lines and no waiting were the greatest benefits to shopping online for groceries.

Of those who did use their mobile phones to buy groceries online, 60% said that receiving personalized promotions on their favorite products would make shopping for groceries online easier while almost 73% said they wanted price comparison services available on their mobile phones. But an overwhelming 88.5% said that they had not yet used their mobile phone to actually buy groceries during the past 12 months.

When asked how they would like to influence the products that are stocked within their preferred grocery retailer, 85.9% would like to be able to request that a retailer carry or stock a product that they do not currently offer while 79.8% would like to be able to give their opinion on what they like/dislike about products. In fact, almost half said they would consider switching to a new grocery retailer if they could influence the products stocked.

As for grocery pick-up and delivery options, 68.7% said they preferred traditional store shopping for groceries with 40.2% wanting to order online with home delivery. When asked if they would also like to be able to order their groceries and select the relevant pick-up or delivery service through a mobile app, almost half said, “No.”

When asked how they felt about their grocery retailer knowing their shopping habits and using that information to provide products and services to fit their lifestyle, 62.2% responded that it was okay as long as their data was safe. Younger shoppers were more likely to want benefits from stores keeping their details while older shoppers were more distrustful.

A little over one third of respondents said that their friends’ Facebook likes and comments did not affect their shopping purchases at all, while almost a quarter said that they do not use Facebook. Also, it appears that the influence of Facebook diminishes with age.

“[The survey showed] there is an increasing demand to use online and mobile technologies to improve the grocery shopping experience,” said Allan Davies, CMO, Symphony EYC. “Shoppers want easier, more personalized, and more control over their choices and will make decisions on where they shop based on the level of these services.”